Gibson writes: "It is no longer extreme to say we now live in a fascist police state. Thanks to the Patriot Act, the SCOTUS' Citizens United decision, and a complacent electorate, our First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly now only exist on paper. In Tienanmen Square, the Chinese government also censored the press and violently cracked down on peaceful protesters. All that's missing here are the tanks."

America Has Become a Fascist Police State

By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News

26 November 11

Reader Supported News | Perspective

eorge Orwell's "1984" wasn't meant to be an instruction manual.

One word that emerged from the novel was the word "doublespeak," where truth is deliberately obfuscated through clever wording. In some cases, the meaning of a word is reversed entirely. Oceania, the totalitarian regime in Orwell's book, used doublespeak as a matter of course. The Ministry of Truth specialized in propaganda. The Ministry of Love was a secretive torture complex.

In the early years of public school, or in public addresses by politicians, America is touted as the Land of the Free, or the Land of Opportunity, or the Greatest Country on Earth. We're taught from near-infancy that this country was founded on the right to say what you want, whenever, wherever, to whomever. We're told we have the freedom to assemble peacefully, to petition our leaders for a redress of grievances. We're taught that if you're apprehended by the law, you have the right to a fair trial and legal representation.

The recent Black Friday mobs of consumers pitching tents in parking lots and rioting over $2 waffle irons were met with silence from the police. Yet, 10 people speaking out in a Wal-Mart about the company's CEO making $19,000 per hour while his employees are forced to work on a holiday for less than poverty-level wages apparently provokes police to tackle and arrest the citizens nonviolently encouraging shoppers to buy local. In today's America we can Occupy for Capitalism, but not for Democracy.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has openly admitted that the recent police crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street solidarity encampments were the result of careful coordination between mayors on a series of conference calls. There are also reports that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI gave advice on the crackdowns, encouraging municipalities to deploy large numbers of police, equip them with riot gear, and break up encampments when the media were least likely to be present. Reports from New York allege that reporters were asked to raise their hand if they had press credentials, before being penned in an area far from the protests. Those trying to get through were arrested, and told that it was illegal to "take pictures on the sidewalk."

It is no longer extreme to say we now live in a fascist police state. Thanks to the Patriot Act, the SCOTUS' Citizens United decision, and a complacent electorate, our First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly now only exist on paper. In Tienanmen Square, the Chinese government also censored the press and violently cracked down on peaceful protesters. All that's missing here are the tanks.

Mussolini said, "Fascism should be more accurately called corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power." It is Orwellian doublespeak to call this country "free" while freedom is actively suppressed with aid from a corporate-owned government. The people are not free if their leaders are actively making war with them.

Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

I can only say shame on the corporations and the politicians who allowed this to happen. They have the police we pay, beating the hell out of the citizens that dont fall in line with the corporate line. Ever since GWB... double speak has been ramped up by our government, and since its not being corrected so here we are.

The corporations and politicians MADE THIS HAPPEN. They are one and the same. The government is owned by the corporations, bankers who hire the lobbyists to write the laws. They are NOT your protectors. This is not new.

Look up the definition of "Fascism" and you will then know what is happening here.

it actually began in the 1930's just like in Europe, the banks here and large corporations even tried to take over the US Government, a coup was plotted involving JP Morgan and Dupont, and many influencial families to rtake over the government, NO one was prosecuted

Yes, and the 2000 stolen election was also done by corporate power to quicken the decent into Fascism. Older and wiser countries would have had taken to the streets by the millions when that stolen election happened in 2000, but we're learning. We know now. This country will one day be a wiser and older country.

you can find it anywhere on line, try wikipedia for example. you might want to start with Maj. Gen. "Smedley Butler" or the "Business Plot" of 1934.... and if you explore this topic you'll find lots more very interesting connections...

"War is Racket", by former Marine Corps General Smedly Butler, and I think it was the Committee on Un-American Activities that General Butler testified before. And then that committee became the center of Sen Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt in the 1950s!! In the meantime the economy was still growing and Fascist tendencies of business could afford to back off. At about the same time Butler went before congress(Feb 1933) the Nazi's started a fire that burned the Reichstag to the ground. They blamed a communist for starting the fire and then took complete control of Germany. For those who missed it, it did not end well for Germany.

It was happening Long before GWB, Think Roosevelt and world war 11... we gave the Japanese a threat about manchuria for which they as expected retaliated... we needed an excuse to get into WW2, and even before that, we have been played by the corporate interests and the war department, and especially the banks Burr and Hamilton were Wall Street Bankers, and we were sold out even as the country was founded

Pernsey, I agree with you. Shame on those who spent years bringing this to our doorsteps. We all know it began in our lifetime with Reagan and continued down thru the Republicans and really ramped up under Bush. They have been picking our rights and democracy to pieces right under our noses. They are all traitors to OUR country.

NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!

They don't care about the citizens at all, it's all about the big corps and big money to them. We can die in the streets for all they care.

They did not ALLOW it to happen...They CAUSED it to happen...the erosion of the economy started with Regan.. the loss of our rights was 911/ Chaney doing...and is about to culminate ("The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday. The bill was drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing." Chris Anders, ACLU SECT. 1031 & 1032 are some of the issue) with the vote on the above tomrrow...CALL YOUR SENATORS- TELL THEM WE ARE ON TO THEM. We tossed King George out in 1776 for the exact same offense.

Now do I hear anyone who want and think that a relationship can be developed between the 99%ers and the police that will benefit and protect the 99%ers from the police when the police is a corporate-owned entity. They may be part of the 99%ers, but they aren't of the 99%.

I am glad to read that Carl Gibson is on board! A little late but with us none the less. Small victories, I think we have to take 'em where we can! Carl, thanks for reporting, well done! Yes people, this is a Police State. How long before all protest is redefined as terrorism? Sure, we don't as yet have a authoritarian dictatorship dripping with the blood of children, but if we did would the average American really ever notice? It has been a strange year and I expect more of these Orwellain developments...

I discovered a fire bomb in my kitchen built by a girl I hired Nov. 8 to do some things around the house.

Its construction followed a long, private phone conversation she held outside with someone.

I questioned her after discovering and disassembling it. She assured me it was a "mistake." Clearly, someone prompted her, and I'm rather sure it was to send me a message about some of the things coming from my keyboard the last couple months.

Perhaps you have; heard of Michael Ruppert? they harassed and poisoned him.Check out "Crossing the Rubicon"(had/has site called fromthewilderness.com)I am becoming more cautious, dammit!We cannot let em pick us off individually, if we can help it.Best wishes and keep the faith !

Excellent and simple analysis - USA IS a Fascist Police State internally - and -Imperial militaristic power destroying the World - hated.Not an optimistic outlook for young generation.

It is up to ua, the 99% -- it is our job to bring in the Change we can believe in. We must evolve our consciousness beyond the self-survival 'fight/flight' instinctive level. That is legitimate for the physical survival of animals but it is not appropriate for humans to use as an ezxuse for war on behalf of our 'beliefs'. the consvioudnrdd of human beings must rise to the level of compassion. Eac one of us must live for the good of the whole.

"We must evolve our consciousness beyond the self-survival 'fight/flight' instinctive level. That is legitimate for the physical survival of animals but it is not appropriate for humans"

took population ecology - and most of the animals cooperate for survival. There is NOTHING instinctive to human greed and annihilation of others to make PROFIT.It is Money Culture/Nationalism/System.History (if we survive) should judge this period more harshly than the Hitler Nazism.

There is much work to do at the city and county levels regarding revamping of “cops-for-hire” in off-duty conditions, situations and circumstances. HOWEVER … to accomplish that, we must FIRST legally vote out of office any and all conservative RepubTeacans and “Blue Dog” Democrats, and replace them with citizens who are willing to actually represent the TRUE needs of their fellow citizens. We must NOT become distracted or diverted from the underlying needs: Stop the Greed, reign-in corporate controls/influence of government and legislation, stop lobbyists (by re-writing lobbyist controlling legislation), break-up the military-industrial complex, reinstate and enforce the Glass-Steagall Act. And that’s only a partial – but important – listing of what MUST be done in our country.

As far as I know, not a single congressman or congresswoman has spoken out against the pepper spraying of those students at UC Davis. (Correct me, dear readers, if I'm wrong on this.) It just blows my mind and makes me wonder if I'm just having a bad dream.

You are right! No one has spoken against wrongdoing against OWS protestors,but unfortunately few of our readers don't see it that way and still believe in Obama's slogan "change we can believe in". Where are Obama's actions to make this believe a reality. Check the video Obama "check mic" in New Hampshire ,and you will predict his intentions of doing nothing.

As far as I know, not a single congressman or congresswoman has spoken out against the pepper spraying of those students at UC Davis. (Correct me, dear readers, if I'm wrong on this.) It just blows my mind and makes me wonder if I'm just having a bad dream.

it would be difficult to imagine that neither Dennis Kucinich nor Barbara Lee have spoken out against this ... they probably have, but the MSM won't tell us so ...

http://thehill.com/video/house/185749-kucinich-occupy-wall-street-finally-getting-the-attention-of-the-nation------------------------------------Rep. Barbara Lee: "I shared my outrage and grave concern about the police brutality in Oakland directly with the mayor. My thoughts go out to the injured and especially Scott Olsen . I strongly support the Occupy movement and continue to stand with the peaceful protesters in this struggle for economic justice and equality."

No freling doubt about it, it is something else, and I think 1984, if not an istruction manual, was a warning about what signs to look for. And they are here, all around us. This is a vile country, and the Foxes, in more ways then one, are in the chicken coop. Horrifying!!

You are 11 years behind the times. It was in 2000 (when you were 13) that RSN's buddy Ralph Nader sold this country out to Bush, giving him Florida and New Hampshire. The numbers are readily available and beyond controversy.

You are 11 years behind the times. It was in 2000 (when you were 13) that RSN's buddy Ralph Nader sold this country out to Bush, giving him Florida and New Hampshire. The numbers are readily available and beyond controversy.

You prove just how pervasive ignorance is in this country. K. Harris, with Jeb (Fla Gov)Bush's knowledge had a "felon" caging list that stopped at least 57,000 black, democratic voters(Broward County)who were legally registered from voting. Because SCOTUS stopped the recount, Bush won Florida by 534 votes...giving him the presidency.As far as I'm concerned, K. harris, J. Bush, G.W. Bush and 5 members of the U.S. supreme court, along with other miscreants, all committed treason.Read: The Betrayal of America by Vincent Bugliosi.I'll say my definition of stupidity once again - it is the self-imposition of ignorance...the greatest threat to democracy and the political health of our country!

You are 11 years behind the times. In 2000 (when you were 13) Ralph Nader gained enough votes in Florida and New Hampshire to put Bush ahead of Gore in those states and thereby hand this country over to your fascist friends.

Never mind the overreach by Rehnquist to prohibit accurate vote counts, and the self-proclaimed Republican control and manipulation of electronic voting machines to ensure the election and reelection of George Bush?

"...banks who fraudulently took Americans' homes for profit can get bailed out by the taxpayers,..."Not quite! Banks got bailed out by representatives elected taxpayers who chose to vote on a given day. That's a problem with representative democracy that could in fact be resolved by universal referenda on key issues, which digital technology and telecom have made possible. The one hurdle left thereafter is the software for voting and vote-counting that, for some reason, America can't get right but more primitive democracies, such as India, can. The US need not be allowed to go wholly fascist and getting alarmist might cause more apathy and less participation.

During my entire 75 years of life, the fascist police state has been a reality for all Americans who cannot afford proper, effective legal assistance. Concurrently, it has been a slap-on-the-wrist for the well connected and affluent! Currently, given the middle class' essentially flat wages since the 1970's, more and more of our once prosperous middle class are rapidly sinking into a socio-economic sub-stratus wherein they can no longer afford capable, dedicated legal counsel in either criminal or civil cases."But there are Public defenders!" you say ? OK - but be aware that most - if not all - of America's condemned prisoners on death rows were defended by overworked, underpaid and understaffed Public Defenders. On the other hand, prosperous well connected, true criminals who can afford top lawyers are rarely questioned seriously and seldom, if ever, indicted.

Everything always comes down to "money" (which is synonymous with "power"). Consequently, through Citizens United and the Too Big To Fail FUBAR, Fat Corporate America - aided dy their cyphers in Congress & the Administration - can - and do - loot the American Treasury and WE THE PEOPLE with naked impunity.

"Everything always comes down to "money" (which is synonymous with "power"). Consequently, through Citizens United and the Too Big To Fail FUBAR, Fat Corporate America - aided dy their cyphers in Congress & the Administration - can - and do - loot the American Treasury and WE THE PEOPLE with naked impunity."

This is the status quo that makes me angrier than every other issue threatening the well-being of our country. OWS deserves so much credit.

Those of us who tried to warn the nation decades ago that what we're witnessing now was on the horizon were called "conspiracy theorists," with a hint of madness implied. This reaction was, of course, anticipated. The goal then was to wake up as many people as possible before events made the matter no longer a bone of contention. As government gloves come off and the reality of the situation becomes more clear every day, there is no satisfaction or "I-told-you-so" impulse. There is only a modicum of relief that our dire warnings no longer appear to be so outlandish. However, the consequence of the citizenry achieving a certain awareness at such a late date is the fact that our options are greatly reduced. The apparatus of oppression is now firmly in place, complete with some new technological wrinkles and our legislative bodies are now essentially wholly owned subsidiaries of corporate interests. A combination of massive civil protest, far larger than we're seeing today, and a very real threat of the use of force in some situations now appear to be the only hope. The fact that things have gotten to this point is not a good thing at all. Corporate and governmental interests seem totally willing to utilize whatever degree of force required to stifle real resistance while firm citizen resolve is slow in coming. In other words, we may be too late to save our freedom.

a great post. Yes, and those of us who've been "a voice crying out in the wilderness" have been called worse things too. There is no satisfaction in saying "I told you so" and yet at least I can sleep at night, while many of those who have laughed at me are just starting to wake up to our brave new world.

There is no reason to say "I told you so."I actually just spent a good bit of time catching up with an old friend I haven't seen in years. He used to debate me and my paranoid delusional fantasies to the point I just stopped talking to him about the things that were happening and things to come. Know what he told me? "You were right."

Dear Carl, true it is that what "We're taught...from near-infancy that this country" is not what we get. The supposed-to-be values and practices that you identify derive, of course, from the Declaration of Independence's and Constitution's rejection and preclusion of imperialism, ultimately under the commerce, defence and treaty clauses that together implement the proclaimed intent to establish Justice, Tranquility, defence, Welfare and Liberty, all of which crashed when the US Supreme Court adopted its internal policy of undermining constitutional democracy by obstructing and ignoring constitutional challenges to the federal imperial statutes of 1871 and 1973. Now the Court (other than Justice Thomas) bizarrely interprets the commerce clause, read in isolation with blinkers on, as delegating to Congress sovereign power over the entire world, as if the jurisdiction to regulate trade "with" foreign Nations and Indian tribes signifies sovereignty "over" them. United States v. Lara (2004)(per Chief Justice Roberts). There is a solution, Carl, namely, forcing the US Supreme Court to do its duty to uphold the Constitution. Please, please, please see the website "Might Is Not Right" at http://mightisnotright.org/ before the opportunity has passed! Best, W'Lawpsh

Brilliant!!! Maybe this article will help other readers understand how deep is the political situation in our country, It is not anymore about Republicans or Democrats. Little by little corrupted politician with the help of corporations started taking our rights As Mr. Gibson ,this incredible young man,said they ( the establishment) for years and years make the people believe in myths,like American Exceptionalism. The lack of veracity in our school History books,the corporate media misinformation of the public to pursuit the people manipulation, etc. make people believe in lies.Examples of actions to brainwash people :PATRIOT Act, Control of Internet,Militarisation of police force,degradation of whistle-blowers,mercenary groups working for and with the government and the state of fears to control everything and everybody,and all of this with the approval of both parties in Congress. THANK YOU,MR. GIBSON FOR YOUR FANTASTIC ARTICLE!

" It is not anymore about Republicans or Democrats"YES - it is not our team (Democrats) against the others (Republicans) Sunday game.This is the present Money Culture System that is destroying the country and the World.We need to get out of our cubicles into the rain.I believe that Militarism (1.3 trillion/year)- US killing in the Afghanistan and Middle East, Africa is much more dangerous. We did not learn from 911 what bombing does.

Americans are all citizens bound by our national laws. Soldiers are citizens, Congressmen/women are citizens, Millionaires and Billionaires are citizens, as are police, Officers, officials and their wives and children.

So, let's have a show of hands: Who in America really wants to live under a totalitarian fascist government?

No one? Then why are we trying so hard to achieve it? Remember, we're all working together at this, whether we like it or not. Because we're abiding by laws, that we're electing officials to change. Yet no one wants to claim responsibility for anything that doesn't sound good. While everyone keeps claiming that they're fighting against things that are bad!

So, why is it that the sum total effect of all this goodness is turning out bad? I don't understand, should we be fighting for badness? Would that make things good again? Oh wait, now I see it, it's this imprecise usage of words that is causing the confusion, problems and troubles.

Therefore, what we need is clearer interpretations of what is being said. Once people understand that, the liars can "drop dead"!

Why the Occupy Movement is considered dangerous is because it sets in motion parallel institutions.Peace officers instead of police, free instead of commodified, real news instead of reified faerie tales. The people love to see the government turned into the the collection of dangerous clowns that it is. The mayors of New York, Denver, Oakland, Portland all look like the stooges they are Opera Buffo caricatures sending their death squads out with their shoe laces tied together. Remember a complaint is a request.

One of the things some can do who would rather see a warning than an accomplished fact in the picture Gibson paints is to sue the campus security system at UC Davis for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the case(s) actually went to a "jury of their peers," the students would win. With the funds left over after court costs, the successful students could establish scholarship funds. This would tend toward correcting gross inequities that have been brought to light in recent years in the UC system.

Carl Gibson is so far off base... isolated incidents where the police acted to disband those who had pushed the limits by destroying private or public property that was not designated for camping. Furthermore the OWS sites have been given tremendous leeway until the situation got out of hand and lawlessness took over. Isolated incidents of police acting inappropriately often have been taken out of context of a long period where the police have asked repeatedly for the lawbreakers to move or relocate and they refused. Keep it all in perspective. Carl Gibson really needs to get a real job also.

Carl Gibson is so far off base... isolated incidents where the police acted to disband those who had pushed the limits by destroying private or public property that was not designated for camping. Furthermore the OWS sites have been given tremendous leeway until the situation got out of hand and lawlessness took over. Isolated incidents of police acting inappropriately often have been taken out of context of a long period where the police have asked repeatedly for the lawbreakers to move or relocate and they refused. Keep it all in perspective. Carl Gibson really needs to get a real job also.

Oh dear, here goes old reactionary shill Eagle again. People like you remind me of Ghandi's statement when asked what he though of western civilization, to which he replied "I think it would be a very good idea!". Just as applicable today as it was then.More seasonably "Are there no prisons, are there more workhouses?". (Which was turned against Scrooge in re-quoting him by the Ghost of Christmas present later in the story). "Isolated incidents" -bah-humbug!They'll "come for you" eventually too y'know, no matter how much of a head-in-the-sand conformist you appear and declare yourself to be. Any more false quotes for us today, as you have trotted out in the past?

I HEREWITH CHALLENGE YOU TO PROVIDE ANY VERIFIABLE REPORT OF LAWLESSNESS AND VANDALISM. POST IT DIRECTLY BELOW AS A REPLY. I'LL TAKE EVEN ONE INSTANCE. I HAVE PERSONALLY SPENT HOURS RESEARCHING EVERY SINGLE REPORT OF SUCH DISTURBANCES THAT HAS APPEARED ON MY COMPUTER SCREEN, AND - UNIFORMLY - THE REPORTS ARE ISOLATED AND ANECDOTAL. ANY TRUE ACT OF CONFIRMED DRUG ABUSE, RAPE, VANDALISM OR VIOLENT ACTIONS COMMITTED BY OWS PROTESTORS WILL HAVE MOST CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION - TO ALL HELL AND BACK - BY FOX NEWS, LIMP-BAUGH (sic) AND CO.

In your defense, all large cities & towns have their share of homeless, wackos, psychopaths, druggies, etc. These street people are naturally attracted to large gatherings and especially to free food and possible shelter. These people ARE NOT OWS participants, but they have the same right to gather as we do. The problem is, of course, that their antics and crimes are immediately attributed (as a right-wing default) to the peaceful, committed OWS demonstrators.

As for "Isolated incidents" of police brutality: even one case is inexcusable. Unwarranted bullying and brutality by our police is anathema, and refusal to obey illegal or improper police orders instantly is what "Peaceful Demonstration" is all about!

Robt Eagle is so far off base... isolating disinformation in a vain attempt to distract naive readers from good sense while diving for tasty morsels in the chunky tidbits of knowledge in dumpster juice that is left over from a vomitous Rovian political machine. Furthermore all wRong wingers, even Robt Eagle, is given an unlimited soap box from which to spew said mis-truths and the occasional misplaced and misunderstood half truth with tremendous mendacity that only a true fascist could proudly lay claim. This is disturbing that FACTS need not be checked when writing Right Wing copy. Isolated incidents of fascist duplicitous actions do not appear to be the norm, far from it, it seems that such accusations are the habitual and incessant reality of the Fascist view which would seem to be Standard Operating Procedure. This is disturbing... one hopes that hard Right Wing can avoid the temptation to become fascist. I will keep my fingers crossed. Keep it all in perspective. Robt Eagle needs to get a life also.

Some of us--too few--have been making the fascist allegation for over a decade now. The young man who wrote this article deserves great praise for paying attention to the situation, recognizing the police state which has emerged, and telling it like it is. Those Americans who still have their heads up their ----- had better get aware fast because history gives us very clear examples of what lies soon ahead of us--total repression of freedoms and terror not from abroad but from right here at home, from our own governments at the federal, the state, and the local levels.

I remember that Jill of York. Nice... Frankly I thought is was fascism when everyone just gave up in 2000 and let the SCOTUS decide who should be president, usurping states rights and everyone just yawned while democracy was soundly beaten like a red headed step child. That F%^&*!? Gore cowardly bent over took it...

Sleeping does not bring about violence against the populace. If apathy is the cause of such brutality, then why aren't the governments of other countries stomping on their citizens?

If it be true that the U.S. government and those they truly represent have been building toward this, how would you have proposed it be stopped? Of course, this was coming, and yes, we did warn of it 50 years ago. Folks were doing good in the interim, however, so why would they fight against something they knew nothing of? That is all citizens on this planet want: to live their lives and raise their families and be creative.

OK, OK. but I had this quote in mind when I wrote that:"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." -- Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator, in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852,.."We need to be WIDE awake, not just awake. I don't think the totalitarian takeover of this country was hard to detect.

Then why didn't you members of the Chosen Few, who were so endowed with such wisdom, actually DO something about it rather than spout your two cents worth to, and point the finger at, people who knew no better? Easy to be wheelchair generals, ain't it?

Doubter, I understand. However, this country is not the country of Wendell Phillips time, much less the revolution or writing of the constitution. But still, what could be done to stop the increasing militarization of the U.S. and the rise of corporations, etc.?

I wrote a paper years ago recommending U.S. government revision due to increases in population numbers, the geographical size of the country, etc., knowing it was not going to happen. Even then, though, nobody knew just how bad it would get or that the country would become much bigger than a true democracy was meant for.

Glen, I also think it has to do with being aware, and especially to VOTE. I think in the years when things were going well some became complacent and didn't bother to vote for the people, who wanted to improve the country.

California, where I live, was THE place to be. Great schools, and wealth all around. I think Reagan was the one who started the decline. To save money he closed the mental hospitals and let the poor sick people out into the street

That man has a lot on his conscience.How interesting that he basically lost his mind. I wonder if it was payback, by whoever is in charge.

My poor state is in so much trouble. The schools are in bad shape and so many people have lost not just their homes but also hope about the future.

A true democracy requires participation as well as voting. Of course, voting has been corrupted. The country is such a size now that it is only locally that true democracy is practiced. Representatives of citizens are also not to be trusted any longer.

I lived in California when Reagan came in and was astounded at the corruption and illegal activities. Changing the welfare system caused thousands of dollars in new stationary, forms, and all the rest, then the feds called Reagan on it and all had to be changed again. Reagan was ruthless in dealing with students, and yes, he ruined the economy and the school system. Also, he was one of the worst presidents this country has ever had.

California was once an amazing place, just as Oregon and Washington. I suppose it was inevitable that a paradise would be corrupted. During the sixties and probably afterward, there were are many as 3,000 people moving into the Bay Area alone. I heard at least two ex-governors of other states warn the country that as California goes, so goes the country. They were right.

Glen, this is the way I see it, although this is very simplistic. We were NEVER a true democracy and it has NEVER been stated as such. We in the US are supposed to have a Democratic Republic. There is a difference. We elect people supposedly to represent us. However, with the advancement of technology, the election rules are antiquated and need to be revamped.

In addition, I don't see people as "asleep". The people have been brainwashed to believe the government represents us (the people)and the "my country right or wrong" sort of mentality with the incorrect belief that our government would protect its people.

Face it, less than 50% of the population votes, which means our representation if based on less than 25% of its population. We have grown complacent and we are now suffering from that very same. We have NOT been watchful of what our representatives do and how they act. We have believed the lies, or settled for the "lesser of two evils" in most circumstances.

Someone that is NOT of wealth would have little or no chance for running for a high political office without an enormous financial support of an enormous amount of people.

There are so many things antiquated about our system, that benefit the 1%, that need to be changed for the benefit of the 99%.

the Mussolini quote just hits you in the face and goes 'splat'! the activist side of SCOTUS is more focused on ideology than the rule of law for the majority;

instead of the 19th century fear of 'tyranny of the majority', we have moved to 'tyranny of the minority' in the form of the corporations and the tea-baggers; John C. Calhoun is spinning in his grave...

My novel of 2008, my hundreds of letters to editors of regional newspapers and national magazines over the last 20 years have said unequivocally that we are an emerging theofascist corporatocracy, the next flavor of fascism. It's ironic that we fought WWII and subsequent wars against totalitarian governments only to then emulate them. Our comfort and apathy have allowed this. Now we have the ingredients of a revolution if The People will just wake up. It doesn't have to be violent. Was Marx right?

My novel of 2008, my hundreds of letters to editors of regional newspapers and national magazines over the last 20 years have said unequivocally that we are an emerging theofascist corporatocracy, the next flavor of fascism. It's ironic that we fought WWII and subsequent wars against totalitarian governments only to then emulate them. Our comfort and apathy have allowed this. Now we have the ingredients of a revolution if The People will just wake up. It doesn't have to be violent. Was Marx right?

Yes I agree and the Imperial Nixon White House really got it moving. Watergate was a set back...but while dirty politics has been with us since the first election (Note the low number of votes for Adams and how that was worked in private by Hamilton)...this move towards a facist state...and then starting with Reagan it has been a movement of the corporate right.

First, MidWestTom, what in hell have Muslims got to do with what Gibson is talking about? Zilch. 2nd, RobtEagle (recent pusher of specious Lincoln quotes), the incidents were NOT isolated - mayors co-ordinated with Homeland Security! As for Occupy not obeying laws, how about cops telling Press it's illegal to take pix on sidewalk? That was a "law" they made up, so how do we know what to obey? 3rd, as to how far USA problem goes back, I recall Goering irritated hell out of US prosecutor at Nuremberg by saying he was ideal to prosecute the genocide aspect of WW2 cause USA did it first with the Native Americans. So many things I love about your land but so much wrong, too. Thankfully there is RSN and Occupy trying to wake folks up.

Yes Carl, the country is inexorably moving towards the direction your finger points to. If Orwell were alive today, he would have apologised for his inability to foresee such a development in what is said to be a democratic country. And probably he would have revised and brought out a new edition of his work, "Nineteen Eighty Four" or written a sequel to it. V.M.Mohanraj

FYI - a definition of fascism I've found useful, esp. in the last decade, when I saw all the elements fall into place:The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language..Noun (1972, 1981 editions) Fascism 1. A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism. 4 basic elements occurred right in front of our noses (but but the accompanying stench of fascism went largely undetected by the powers that be:1) merging of state and business leadership; (2) extreme right wing ideology ruled; (3) attempted dictatorship under the SCOTUS-sanctioned Unitary Executive theory; (4) belligerent nationalism--self-evident in the jingoism and warmongering that went on. Okay, we know what it is--stamp it out by handling each point. And that's what OWS in doing, starting with breaking the links between The Corporation and government. More to come..

If we wish to counter the dire theme of this article we must see to it that Chancellor Katehi resigns. I am not engaged in scapegoating when I say this. She may say that this assualt on peaceable assembly happened somewhere outside her radar screen. That's not an acceptable excuse. The assembly should have been at the center of her line of vision. If, actually, it was at the center, she has to go. If it wasn't anything she was paying attention to, she has to go. If, on the contrary, she manages to negotiate herself a reconciliation, it should be clear to all the rest of us that we are reconciling ourselves to fascism--as Gibson may think we already have.

Most republicans can't idinify a Fascist Police State because that is their point of view.

Class warfare is as old as history; hell, if it were not for Class warfare we would never have become the United States.

Religious and political liars have been spewing hate and discontent from generation to generation, all the time these little devils are seeking wealth; being the biggest benefactors from the crap they spread.

We have the right wing religion teaching that anyone, who gives to their god will get up to 100 X’s back; and that is the fastest growing number of worshipers of wealth around.

God’s view of wealth: KJV 1st Timothy 6: 9-11“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

Sorry, Paul. This is NOT God's view of ANYTHING! It's the view of the fellows who wrote the Bible. And please note: I capitalized "God" and "Bible" only out of respect for those people who "believe" and who think they have a relationship with a deity.

Sorry you don't know God well enough to know his views that's a shame. I then assume that all documents written with the authority of the federal and local governments is the view of the writer also, and need not be taken seriously; is that the way you see it.

It's not about THEM, it's about US. We allowed this to happen. We continue to permit it by our compulsion for partisan loyalty and such such bullshit as supporting the LESSER-EVIL choice. All we need to do is to identify candidates of Courage, Intelligence, Goodwill and Integrity -- then install them. We propagandize ourselves that we cannot do this. We need to wake up, dammit, refuse to be hypnotized by party aparatchiks, and just bloody do it. How amazed our "masters" would be to awaken one Nov 5 morning to see that we had merited our own decent government and they had been ousted. Just clean out all that partisan garbage from our brains and just bloody do it!

The Kennedy assassination along with Martin's and Bobby's repressents/reminds us that a new form of government was ussured in to the United States in the early 60's. Eisenhower attempted to warn us what was about to unfold in the US of A with the Military/Industrial complex which has now morphed into the Military/Industrial/Pharmacutical/Banking/Homeland Insecurity Complex. As Mother Jones said, stop paying your bills. Send your bills to your local and national political representatives. Resist war. Be non-violent. Be the change you wish to see in your world, as Gandhi put it. The Revolution must begin with each of us.

Tha tanks or armored vehicles are already here. The military bearing and attitude is already rife within the PDs across the nation. We The People need to demand that those in Congress roll back the Patriot's Act... We The People need to demand that Homeland Security be abolished. We The People need representative that view themselve in the serrvice to America and We The People first and foremost: Not thier party or corporations.

Again and yet again, for direct comparisons and confirmation of symptoms, read Robert Shirer's "The Nightmare Years" and "Berlin Diary"; if you can't perceive a downward spiral in freedom of speech, action and even thought flying in the face of much of the constitution, you must be one of them. Main difference is that "they" now have ever-more sophisticated surveillance and attack weaponry to use against us (Goering would have loved these drones, sound-cannons and all the other lethal and semi-lethal "toys" our taxes buy). The very names "Homeland Security" and "Patriot Act" smack loudly of the "Thousand year Reich", what?Michael Parenti, Howard Zinn, Chomsky and other's books, broadcasts on "Alternative" media and lectures at more enlightened venues and colleges, have been pointing at this tendency in the U.S.A. (as I perceived after a year or two of living here) for a long time but who in the mainstream will even give them air time or what's left of print space?This is why only critical mass such as OWS will work; "They" can't kill, torture and intimidate all of us; it now needs to congeal into a tighter, goal-oriented rolling, solid ball!

Activista: Don't forget 'Der heimat' (the Homeland) Ever since (in this current incarnation) the lie of 11/22/63-the 5.6 seconds of 'bang... bang,bang! as heard and reported by Robert McNeil, an open police mike and many others,-this country has been steadily, piece by piece, taken over and subverted. for those who hoped the election of 08 would stop and reverse the coup de etats of sElecltion 2000 and the false flag o0p of 911-it is plain to see that hope and change was neither! all the old systems have failed, including that of democratic redress. #OWS is at least the beginning of a new consciousness-one bright light in Stygian darkness-but other vectors are in play as well. 'buckle your seat-belts, we're in for a bumpy ride.' As JFK said before he was murdered, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." I hope there is a third way-the people and planet need it badly!

The ACLU is a front organization funded by the Rothchilds. ACLU has nothing to due with "protecting American's rights" but to further NWO and destroying Christianity. The United States is a Christian country petriod. Christianity has always been a threat-remember the Roman Empire and high priests of the Jewish temple-the money changers?

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.